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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jul 20.
Published in final edited form as: Nature. 2009 Oct 22;461(7267):1071–1078. doi: 10.1038/nature08467

Table 4.

Examples of DNA-damaging drugs used to treat cancer. See text for details (modifed from Helleday et al98).

Cancer Treatment Types of DNA lesions induced
Radiotherapy and radiomimetics
Ionizing radiation
Bleomycin		 Single-strand breaks, double-strand
breaks, base damage
Monofunctional alkylators
Alkylsulphonates
Nitrosourea compounds
Temozolomide		 Base damage, replication lesions, bulky
DNA adducts
Bifunctional alkylators
Nitrogen mustard
Mitomycin C
Cisplatin		 Double-strand breaks, DNA cross-links,
replication lesions, bulky DNA adducts
Antimetabolites
5-Fluorouracil (5FU)
Thiopurines
Folate analogs		 Cytotoxic metabolite, inhibits base
pairing leading to base damage and
replication lesions
Topoisomerase inhibitors
Camptothecins (Topo I); Etoposide
(Topo II), anthracyclines (Doxorubicin,
Epirubicin, Daunorubicin (Topo II)		 Double-strand breaks, single-strand
breaks, replication lesions;
anthracyclines also generate free
radicals
Replication inhibitors
Aphidicolin
Hydroxyurea		 Double-strand breaks, replication
lesions